Chemical-mechanical planarization may be understood as a process whereby a wafer or another substrate is polished to achieve a relatively high degree of planarity. The wafer may be moved relative to the chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) pad in close proximity to each other, under pressure, and/or with a continuous or intermittent flow of abrasive containing slurry applied between them. A conditioner disk having a surface comprising relatively hard abrasive (typically diamond) particles may be used to abrade the pad surface to maintain the same pad surface roughness for consistent polish. In semiconductor wafer polishing, the advent of relatively large scale integration (VLSI) and ultra large scale integration (ULSI) circuits has resulted in the packing of many more devices in relatively smaller areas in a semiconductor substrate, necessitating greater degrees of planarity for the higher resolution lithographic processes that may be required to enable the dense packing. In addition, as copper and other relatively soft metal, metal alloys or ceramics are increasingly being used as interconnects due to relatively low resistance and/or other properties, the ability of the CMP pad to yield relatively high planarity of polish without causing scratching defects may become critical for the production of advanced semiconductors. Relatively high planarity of polish may require a relatively hard and/or rigid pad surface to reduce local compliance to the substrate surface being polished. However, a relatively hard and/or rigid pad surface may tend to also cause scratching defects on the same substrate surface thus reducing production yield of the substrate being polished.